Description
Quiet residental street with mutiple children riding bikes and playing, cars passing from Whalley Ave to Fountain St ignore the posted 25mph sign. can potentially be very dangerous
Reporter
Quiet residental street with mutiple children riding bikes and playing, cars passing from Whalley Ave to Fountain St ignore the posted 25mph sign. can potentially be very dangerous
3 Comments
KMF (Guest)
CT Livable Streets Campaign (Registered User)
From what I've seen in this area, I would agree. If speeding and disregard for pedestrian safety continues to be an issue here, the neighborhood should fill out and submit a "complete streets" request form at http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/Engineering/completestreets.asp.
Getting these types of requests on the official public record will really help the city improve the safety of these crossings over time, while significantly raising property values. If you need help completing the form itself you may want to contact your local alderperson or newhavensafestreets at gmail.com.
If funding is not sufficient to immediately build a bump out, median, or other traffic calming measures, a temporary one can be constructed (like much of Boston does) using sand barrels, etc.
Slowing speeds on these streets, to levels that are appropriate for a residential neighborhood, would reduce both the frequency as well as the severity of crashes here.
This should be done both with posted signs as well as re-engineering techniques (which, contrary to the city's assertions, do not need to be expensive to install).
Appropriate speeds are well defined by many progressive local and national governments throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. For example, 20 mile per hour speed limits are increasingly required in residential neighborhoods throughout the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. In Darien and Greenwich, Connecticut, the lives of children are apparently more valuable than they are in New Haven, so many residential areas have 15 mile per hour design speeds. In other words, there are many examples that New Haven could draw from if it were to adopt a policy that placed the needs of residents of all ages and abilities above the needs of speeding drivers.
In NYC, the city is implementing 20 mile per hour speed limits in 75 neighborhoods beginning this year. The city's top traffic engineer has said that 20 mile per hour speeds would have absolutely no impact on the city's ability to move cars.
Unfortunately, until these sorts of progressive measures happen, we will continue to see speeding and severe crashes and pay an enormous price for them.
Closed City of New Haven (Verified Official)